Siddhartha

By: Hermann Hesse, Gunther Olesch - translator, Anke Dreher - translator, Amy Coulter - translator, Stefan Langer - translator, Semyon Chaichenets - translator

Narrated by: David Cross

Length: 4 hrs and 26 mins

Publisher's summary

In Siddhartha, Herman Hesse conveys a very profound message for all those who seek meaning in their lives. Though set in India, the concerns of Siddhartha are universal, expressing Hesse's general interest in the conflict between mind, body, and spirit. It is a story of a Brahmin boy who follows his heart and ventures out into the world to experience life as a pious Brahmin, a Samana, a rich merchant, a lover, and ordinary ferryman to a father - each life bringing a new awakening, bringing him closer to the truth until he is finally one with Buddha.

Public Domain (P)2012 Cherry Hill Publishing

Not THAT David Cross

Not read by the comedian, David Cross, if you're hesitating to buy based on that.

Siddhartha and Hesse live on

I first read Siddhartha and other Hesse books in my early 20's during the early 70's while a student at the University of Iowa as well as during a tour with the US Army. For many, back then, Hesse seemed to strike a cord for helping you make sense of life and where your own life was headed. Over the years thoughts of these Hesse books would come back to me remembering perceived pearls of wisdom.

So now these forty years later I decided to give Hesse's books another go. Now in my 60's and retired, Siddhartha still gives out a perspective on life. There is still life to be lived in the golden years. Reinforcing the thought that life is for the living, Siddhartha discusses that one shouldn't get too serious about the meaning of life, the challenge is to accept life as it is, with both the good and the bad, in the end it's all the same thing, a life.

One interesting aspect listening to this now is that when I first read the book back in the day I was reading it from the perspective that I was a son and what impact did my own father have on the direction of my life. Considerable I suppose. But now I look at it from the perspective of the father, having a son of my own in his 20's. Accepting and letting him lead his own life isn't always easy but realizing that he will lead his own life is the challenge. Once you accept that, it gets a lot easier.

It is amazing that almost 100 years after being written this book still has meaning, maybe now a maturity.

Outstanding audiobook (author+narrator)

Story's reviews are available in many resources, so I'll focus on the narrator. He has a really soothing voice and an excellent command of it. The toning, emphasizing and volume changes per context were all in place and outstanding. I hope I can get more books he has read.

Run at 0.90 speed

It’s read too fast for me with few gaps between sentences to give time to absorb

Running at 0.90 speed helps a lot. Even 0.80

Meditation in Story Form

I wasn't sure what I was getting into. I didn't even remember why I had this on my list to read, but I'm glad I read it. It's your basic philosophy for life. With the entire point being that its not the end that is the goal, but the path that is the goal. That you should never stop learning, never stop getting closer to enlightenment.

I feel like this book is essentially meditation in story form if that makes sense.

Highly recommend!

Wonderful story about the search for meaning. Great audio performance! Once I started it and couldn’t stop listening and will be sure to read again!

Great story, great narration

I listened to this in between periods of reading the book. It was helpful to hear pronunciations. Great purchase!

Life changing

As I began to read this book I didn’t know what to expect. Then I realized it was everything I needed.

A magical spiritual concert

One of my all time favorite books. Thou a work of fiction it reads like a non fiction biography Of a man seeking spiritual Enlightenment. Recommended for anyone on a spiritual path. Much wisdom can be learned from reading/listening to this book

In my opinion of all the versions of this book available on audible it has the best narration

Loved the book

Loved the book but sometimes I felt a bit lost what was his cord teaching but then again he didn’t believe in core teaching and perhaps that’s the universal truth or realization